Alchemy Desserts Founder Brandi Lansill specializes in creating custom, buttercream cakes for every occasion. Brandi has been cooking professionally since the age of 15. She cut her teeth in the industry cooking in Michelin-starred restaurants in her hometown of Los Angeles, California. After a 2011 move to Portland, she became very passionate about seasonal cooking, building relationships with local farmers and foragers as well as applying her skills to support community outreach. Each of Brandi’s cakes is designed not just to taste incredible but to bring a little extra sparkle to life's special moments.

Anamika Vial's baking journey started with a sourdough book a decade ago, but it was her years living in southern Germany that truly shaped her craft. Founded in 2024, Anamika Vial Bakeshop began as a pretzel pop-up devoted to authentic Southern German-style soft pretzels and has since expanded into flavored pretzel chips and German laminated sweet rolls. Don't expect the doughy pretzels from your local pub. Anamika's feature a soft, chewy body, crisp thin arms, a traditional lye coating, and a finish of coarse-ground sea salt. Cold, salted butter highly recommended.

Heetae An spent years in the semiconductor industry before a layoff in 2025 gave him the push to turn a lifelong passion into something real. An Bbang Bakery was born at the start of this year, rooted in the simple joy of watching people savor something carefully made. The specialty is Korean salt bread, soft, buttery, and endlessly riffable, with classic and newly developed fillings that keep things interesting. If you haven't tried it yet, consider this your invitation.

August of August Artisan Bakery has two great loves, baking and books, and has found a way to honor both through pop-ups in Portland's beloved independent bookstores. Ask them why they bake and the answer is simple. They just can't stop. Always experimenting and chasing new flavors, August is bringing some of their tried and true recipes to Score this year and we can't wait to see what makes the cut.

After a five year break, Lisa is back in the kitchen and bringing her Nordic heritage with her. A veteran of Portland's farm-to-table restaurant scene, she approaches every bun and pastry with an ingredient-forward sensibility and a love of artistry that shows in every detail. Bun Bakeshop is known for playful, sometimes intricate shortbread cookies, and a deep affection for cardamom, seasonal fruits, and joyful design. It's a homecoming worth celebrating.

Jordan Mishra grew up in Yamhill County with a knack for art and an eye for food. After stints in restaurant PR, coffee journalism, and food illustration, she started posting portraits of chefs and farmers on Instagram under the handle @DrawnHungry in 2017, landing features in Bon Appétit and Star Chefs Magazine along the way. In November 2024 she brought all of it together in the Drawn Hungry Card Game, a self-published food-themed strategy game born from a desire to make something as joyful as it is delicious. Think Apples to Apples meets Chopped, with better illustrations.

Terrance Cannain has been in the kitchen since age 13, and somewhere along the way a hobby became a calling. Through Dulce Fundi, he transforms everyday sweets into something nostalgic, whimsical, and delightfully extra. Rooted in joy, creativity, and a little bougie magic, every treat is felt in the heart before it's crafted by hand. Expect mini cakes, marshmallows, brownies, and cookies that feel at once classic and entirely new.

Some know her as Emily Cardinal. Others just call her the egg magnet lady. The ceramic artist and Southeast Portland local is back at Score this year with more handmade pottery designed to bring color and joy into your kitchen. From spoon rests and mugs to butter dishes and her signature decorative magnets, her work is playful, practical, and full of personality. Come for the baked goods, leave with something you won't be tempted to eat on the car ride home.

Janetta Deppa is the founder of Flower&Flour, where she creates seasonal baked goods inspired by the produce, flowers, herbs, and whimsy of her garden. In spring and summer she transforms her North Portland city block into a vibrant flower garden, selling bouquets alongside a rotating menu of baked goods across town. Her baking is shaped by the fresh, current ingredients of the Pacific Northwest, by the years she spent living in South Africa, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, and by family recipes passed down through generations.

Abbey Teitelbaum and Daniel Gonzales have spent the better part of two decades farming and baking, working on small organic farms and feeding their neighbors along the way. That background gave them a conviction they carry into everything they make. Good food starts with knowing your farmer. Freehand Bakery was born in 2022, and from the beginning it has been rooted in fresh wheat, rye, barley, and oats sourced from farmers in Oregon and Washington, milled in-house on a natural stone flour mill. The goal is the same one it has always been, building community one whole grain loaf at a time.

Ocean Woods bakes out of the Cully neighborhood in NE Portland, where Labyrinth Bread has become a quiet obsession. The focus is sourdough, naturally leavened and built on 100% stone-milled, locally sourced grain. Stone milling preserves the bran and germ that most commercial flour leaves behind, which means more flavor, better nutrition, and loaves that stay fresh longer. Every bread is a whole grain, and every bite makes the case for doing things the slow way.

Lené Hopson named Lili Mae's Confections after the women who made her who she is. Her grandmothers Ruby Mae, Frankie Mae, and Ada Mae passed down the recipes, stories, and love that shaped her passion for baking, and the name carries forward a legacy that now includes her daughter Lilianna too. Rooted in Southern tradition and family heritage, Lili Mae's specializes in handcrafted cakes, cookies, cupcakes, candies, marshmallows, and nostalgic Southern classics like banana pudding, sweet potato pie, and peach cobbler. Every treat is made to feel both comforting and memorable, which is exactly what a good family recipe should do.

Nikki Frank has been watching cakes come to life since childhood, when her mom would bake them for extra income. Today she's carrying that tradition forward through Red Bird Baking, a licensed home bakery rooted in quality ingredients, attention to detail, and a genuine love of making people happy. Nikki and her trusted team of professional taste testers, otherwise known as her family, bring that same care to every order. Expect mini cakes, cookies, and buns that taste like they were made with someone specific in mind.

Nicole Markowitz grew up in a household where food was a love language, making homemade pizza with one grandmother and rugelach with the other. That foundation never left her. Origin Bakehouse is her passion project, built around naturally leavened kolaches that swing effortlessly between sweet and savory depending on the season. Operating out of a converted garage bakery, Nicole has built a loyal community of customers who show up regularly for her kolaches, scones, cakes, and whatever else she's been inspired to make.

At 14, Samantha Romanowski watched her first employer score and slide baguettes into a deck oven at a farm-to-table restaurant in upstate New York. She couldn't wait to grab one and slather it with butter. Twenty years and a career as a holistic nutritionist later, the self-taught baker is doing the scoring herself. Sam started Romo's Sourdough as a way to connect with her neighbors and enrich her community, and you can find her rustic, homestyle comfort carbs every Saturday at the Oregon City Farmers Market.

Molly Behnke came to food through art, with a background in visual arts and a fascination for molecular gastronomy that eventually sent her on a year-long journey through India, Nepal, and Thailand. Back in Portland, the pandemic gave her the push she needed. What started as a food-driven Instagram account became The Skinny Chef PDX, a one-woman catering operation specializing in globally inspired cuisine rooted in Pacific Northwest seasonality.

Cheryl Wolf has spent years chasing the perfect caramel. The result is Sugar Witch, a line of handcrafted caramel candies and sauces built on a short list of simple ingredients, butter, honey, sugar, salt, and a lot of patience. Cheryl is as particular about where those ingredients come from as she is about what she does with them, with a commitment to ethical sourcing and the kind of regional food system that makes great caramel possible in the first place.

Katie Gourley is an organic farmer, baker, writer, zine maker, and self-described biodiversity nerd. By day they run La Merenda Farm, a small-scale dry bean operation, and Sweet Clover Baking is the project they return to when the farming day is done. Born in the early months of the pandemic as a community project, Sweet Clover was a way to bring small moments of joy to people searching for rhythm and ritual in the middle of upheaval. It has since grown into a custom cake and pastry business built on whole grains from the PNW regional grain shed, seasonal ingredients, and a famously light hand with sweetness. Don't be surprised if your cake flirts a little with savory.

Though most of her career has been spent working as a chef in restaurants, Sophia Illk Jackson found her true culinary voice through bread. Specifically, rye. From hyper traditional Eastern and Northern European loaves to newer North American styles, plus sweets inspired by rye cultures around the world, rye is the thread running through everything Toothbutter makes. It started in childhood, when her godfather introduced her to the classic Scandinavian open-faced sandwich, deepened during her time at Kachka, and eventually became a vision all its own.

Hiroko Saso brings a little sunshine to everything she makes. Yellow Heart Sunshine is a small creative business built around a simple mission of sharing happiness and smiles, expressed through a lovely lineup of handmade pastries. Whatever she's making, you can expect it to be cheerful, thoughtful, and made with care.